 |
The Monthly Edition Of The k-Byte Newsletter |
 |
|
| v. 24, n. 5 May 2007 | Users Helping Users | ||
|
The Monthly Edition Of The k-Byte Newsletter |
|
|
| v. 24, n. 5 May 2007 | Users Helping Users | ||
|
Contents 1 Countdown to the Digital Deadline - Jim Sanders 2 About k-Byte 5 Thinking About Disaster - Dick Maybach 6 Calendar of Events 7 May/June Calendars 9 Tip of the Month - Yomar Cleary 9 Scanning Published Photos - Irving Elliott 10 About Trading Post 12 Map to Meeting Place 12 FRPCUG Contacts CHECK THE SCHEDULE ON P. 6 FOR MORE INFO ON: Computer on a Flash Drive? Computer games DEMO Introducing the new end of article symbol, courtesy of http://www.clipart.com   The world of the future will be an ever more demanding struggle against the limitations of our intelligence, not a comfortable hammock in which we can lie down to be waited upon by our robot slaves. - Norbert Wiener [1964] Countdown to the Digital Deadline by Jim Sanders, Editor, North Orange County Computer Club, California. http://www.noccc.org editor(at)noccc.org Television, as most of us know it, has barely two years of life left in it. Congress has set a deadline of February 17, 2009 for analog broadcasts to end. That means that the faithful television that you have had, for I don't know how many years, will cease functioning on that date. Well, cease functioning may be too strong of a description, but there will no longer be an over the air broadcast of the analog type of signal that it knows how to interpret. Starting on that date, all of the over the air television broadcasting stations have been mandated to transmit the digital television format signal only. Old faithful, or maybe not so old, can still be used as long as there is some device that can feed it the analog signal that it knows how to deal with. This could be your VCR or DVD player for instance. Or, it could be one of the set top boxes that millions of people are going to have to purchase if they wish to continue using their analog television to receive over the air television broadcasts. The purpose of the set top box is to tune in the digital television frequency and convert it to the NTSB analog signal that your television knows how to deal with. The set top boxes contain an ATSC tuner. This stands for Advanced Television Systems Committee. They are an international organization setting the standards for digital television. In time, they will replace the NTSC, which is an American organization overseeing analog TV transmissions. There is considerable talk about Congress passing legislation to subsidize, or provide free of charge, set top boxes to low income families. At this time there is no requirement that the recipients be United States citizens. When you purchase a digital television, ATSC is a term that will be listed on the specifications showing that the television has a built-in digital tuner. There are eighteen formats in the DTV spectrum, 12 SDTV formats and 6 HDTV formats. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is the regulating organization in the United States that controls conversion from analog to digital. The Federal Communications Commission has set deadlines that mandate all manufacturers include digital tuners in their televisions. These are the dates that have been mandated: July 1, 2005: all TVs with screen sizes over 36 in. must include built-in ATSC tuner. July 1, 2006: 100% of 25 to 35in. TVs must include ATSC DTV tuner. July 1, 2007: 100% of 13 to 24in. TVs must include ATSC DTV tuner. July 1, 2007 100% of all interface device's must have ATSC DTV tuner. That includes equipment such as VHS VCRs, DVD player/recorders, and DVRs. These deadlines only apply to new televisions and do not include the huge inventory of existing units. That is why you may see a number of television's larger than 36in. still being sold without built-in digital tuners. Definition of television; a television is a viewing device that includes a tuner. A device without a tuner is called a monitor. There is a loophole in the FCC regulations that allows manufacturers to build TVs without any tuner which would technically make it a monitor. Most cable subscribers and all satellite subscribers use their service provider's set top box to receive and decode the digital signals instead of using the television's built-in ATSC tuner. One exception to that rule is a small credit card type of chip that takes the place of the set top box and is called a CableCARD. Most cable and satellite providers charge in the neighborhood of $9.95 a month to receive HD channels. Over the air High Definition channels are "free" in the same sense that current analog channels are free, that is you pay the price of watching the commercials but don't actually have to shell out money. So if you spend the extra bucks up front to buy an HD television that includes the ATSC tuner, you are not forced to pay that additional monthly charge. By purchasing an antenna from an electronics store for in the neighborhood of $25.00 to $100.00, a person that owns a set with a built-in ATSC tuner can enjoy the over the air broadcasts for free. When the analog signals are turned off and digital becomes the standard, cable and satellite providers will probably provide the local networks for free if they don't do so already. But you will still have to buy or lease the cable box which right now costs in the neighborhood of $199.00. In addition to that, you'll still have to purchase the programming from the provider. So if you are a person that currently relies on getting all of your television through a rooftop antenna, in less than two years you will be faced with the choice of spending money for some new equipment or no longer being able to watch television. One method of dealing with the problem would be to purchase one of the new DVD VCR combos that include the ATSC tuner. A number of VCR manufacturers, including Panasonic, have announced that when the new regulations go into effect, they will simply stop manufacturing that class of equipment. JVC has announced a new DVD/VCR/ATSC tuner model that will be available in May, the DRMV99 at $329.95. If you already own a good VCR and a good DVD player, it might make more sense to go ahead and purchase just the ATSC set top tuner. In addition to dealing with all of the high definition signal acquisition problems, a whole lot of people are already trying to deal with the somewhat confusing array of HDTV offerings. The terminology which is frequently observed in the papers can be very confusing. The phrase "HD ready" is usually an indicator that the unit is a monitor that does not include a tuner. A lot of advertisements conveniently do not include what version of high definition a particular offering is. It is simply referred to as HD without saying whether it is 720i, 720p, 1080i or 1080p. The actual pixel resolution is often omitted as well. The 720i or p sets need to have a resolution of 1280 pixels by 720 pixels. The real 1080i or p sets need to have a resolution of 1920 pixels by 1080 pixels. Just like the older VGA computer monitors the 720i refers to an interlaced display and the 720p refers to a progressive scan display. The progressive display is the better quality. Then you have to decide which display technology you are going to pick. The Plasma flat panel, the LCD flat panel, the rear projection DLP television, the rear projection LCD television, the wall projection unit in either DLP or LCD. What is the brightness level? What is the viewing angle? What is the life expectancy of the projector bulb? What is the cost of the projector bulb? Does the unit have a VGA, a DVI and an HDMI video connector? At the moment, I think the best bang for the buck is to purchase a projector that will do 720p, and if you can afford the extra cost, one that will do 1080p. If you have never seen even an older 800x600 projector displaying a movie from a standard DVD on an eight foot diagonal screen, I think you will find it impressive and I think you should do that before you spend money on anything. SOME SELECTED FAQs FROM THE http://www.dtv.gov/ SITE What is the digital TV transition? The switch from analog TV (the traditional TV system using electomagnetic waves to transmit and display TV pictures and sound) to digital television (the new TV system using information transmitted as "data bits" -- like a computer -- to display movie-quality pictures and sound), is referred to at the digital TV (DTV) transition. In 1996, the U.S. Congress authorized the distribution of an additional broadcast channel to each TV broadcaster so that they could introduce DTV service while simultaneously continuing their analog TV broadcasts. In addition to improved picture and sound quality, an important benefit of DTV is that it will free up parts of the broadcast spectrum for public safety as well as other valuable uses. This is possible because the modern technology of DTV is more efficient than analog TV technology. DTV allows the same number of stations to broadcast using fewer total channels (less of the broadcast spectrum) which will free up scarce and valuable spectrum for public safety and new wireless services. What is the February 17th, 2009 DTV deadline date? Congress passed a law on February 1, 2006, setting a final deadline for the DTV transition of February 17, 2009. Most television stations will continue broadcasting both analog and digital programming until February 17, 2009, when all analog broadcasting will stop. Analog TVs receiving over-the-air programming will still work after that date, but owners of these TVs will need to buy converter boxes to change digital broadcasts into analog format. Converter boxes will be available from consumer electronic products retailers at that time. Cable and satellite subscribers with analog TVs should contact their service providers about obtaining converter boxes for the DTV transition. What is digital television (DTV)? Digital television (DTV) is a new type of broadcasting technology that will transform television as we now know it. By transmitting the information used to make a TV picture and sound as "data bits" (like a computer), a digital broadcaster can carry more information than is currently possible with analog broadcast technology. For example, the technology allows the transmission of pictures with higher resolution for dramatically better picture and sound quality than currently available - called High Definition Television (HDTV) - or the transmission of several "standard definition" TV programs at once - called "multicasting." "Standard definition" digital TV pictures would be similar in clarity and detail to the best TV pictures being received and displayed today using the current analog broadcast system and TV receivers. DTV technology can also be used to provide interactive video and data services that are not possible with "analog" technology. Is HDTV the same thing as DTV? HDTV is the highest quality of DTV, but it is only one of many formats. In addition to HDTV, the most common formats are Standard Definition Television (SDTV) and Enhanced Definition Television (EDTV). SDTV is the baseline display and resolution for both analog and digital. Transmission of SDTV may be in either the traditional (4:3) or wide-screen (16:9) format. EDTV is a step up from Analog Television. EDTV comes in widescreen (16:9) or traditional (4:3) format and provides better picture quality than SDTV, but not as high as HDTV. This article has been provided to APCUG by the author solely for publication by APCUG member groups. All other uses require the permission of the author (see e-mail address above). Published monthly, k-Byte is the official newsletter of the Front Range Personal Computer Users Group (FRPCUG): our mailing address is PMB 152, 305 W. Magnolia, Fort Collins, Colorado 80521. Opinions expressed in k-Byte are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the group or its members. Publication of information in k-Byte constitutes no guarantee of accuracy. Use of any information found in this publication is at the sole risk of the user. Neither k-Byte, nor Front Range PC Users Group, nor the officers of Front Range PC Users Group, nor the editors of or contributors to k-Byte assume any liability for damages resulting from use of information in this publication. Submissions Articles, letters and short items of interest on computer-related topics are welcome and encouraged. All items submitted for publication are subject to editing. Send your contribution to the editor via e-mail attachment or submit on disk. If you have questions about a submission, please contact the editor for information. Copyright k-Byte is copyrighted ©2007 by the Front Range Personal Computer Users Group. Unless otherwise noted, other nonprofit users groups may reprint or quote from any articles appearing in k-Byte without prior permission, provided that proper author and publication credits are given and that a copy of the publication in which the article appears is sent at no cost to k-Byte at the above mailing address. User groups wishing to exchange newsletters with FRPCUG are invited to send a copy of their newsletter together with an exchange request. IBM PC, OS/2, Compaq, MS-DOS, UNIX, Windows and other trademarks occasionally mentioned in k-Byte are registered trademarks of International Business Machines, Inc., Compaq Corporation, Microsoft, Digital Research, AT&T or their owners respectively. Neither FRPCUG nor its newsletter k-Byte are connected in any way with any manufacturer or seller. Advertising Classified advertising is free to members for non-business ads. See "Trading Post" for pricing for camera-ready display ads. Charges for ad makeup from sketches, etc., are available on request. Deadline for camera-ready and classified ads is 45 days prior to the month of publication. For example, ads for the March newsletter must be submitted by January 15th. For pricing and schedules for ad design, connect to contact(at)frpcug.org. About FRPCUG FRPCUG is an independent nonprofit computer society, so incorporated with the State of Colorado and open to anyone interested in MS-DOS, Windows, or UNIX/LINUX microcomputers. Its purpose is to provide an educational and scientific forum of mutual benefit for members of the micro-computer community. FRPCUG holds a monthly meeting and conducts various special interest groups (SIGs) and seminars. Members have voting privileges, subscription to k-Byte newsletter, access to SIGs and selected seminars. Annual dues are $25 for individual/family membership ($20 for students) and $50 for corporate/group membership.  by Dick Maybach, a member of the Brookdale Computer User Group, New Jersey http://www.bcug.com/, N2nd(at)att.net Here, we aren't discussing PC problems such as disk crashes, but real life disasters, such as those represented by the four horsemen of the apocalypse: pestilence, war, famine, and death. There's not much we can do about these, but careful preparations will lessen the consequences. While it's not pleasant to contemplate woes, and you certainly don't want to become obsessed, some constructive worrying today could save you or your family much trouble later. PCs have become indispensable tools for many of us. The conscientious user backs up regularly, probably to an external drive sitting beside the PC. However, if you experience a fire, flood, or theft, both your PC and its backup data will probably disappear together. If a theft occurred, not only have you lost your data, but also somebody else has it. You'll need to cancel your credit cards and close bank accounts immediately, but you no longer have the information you need to do this. Thus, there are two problems: replacing the lost data and stopping somebody else from misusing it. The best solution to the first problem is to keep a backup of your critical data in a safe place, such as bank deposit box. Many banks offer free boxes to their customers, but you could also keep the information at work or with a friend. It will be most convenient to restore this critical data to your (presumably new) PC if the backup takes the form of diskettes or CD-ROMs. If your deposit box is too small or too full to hold a 5 ? inch disc, use a 3 1/8 inch CD-ROM (holding about 200 Mbytes) or a USB thumb drive. The saved data will include, for example, your passwords, contact names and addresses, financial data, and family photos. For the second problem, keep a paper copy of your credit card and bank account numbers as well as contact information for your financial institutions. You will want this data immediately, and it will take a little time to find a PC and print out the contents of a disc. You've now taken care of disasters that happen to your home, but what if something happens to you? What information will your family need if you are not available or incapacitated? Certainly, this includes the user names and passwords for your computer and PDA. They will need the URLs, user names, and passwords of any sites you use for financial transactions, such as credit cards, banks, merchants that are authorized to charge your credit cards or make withdrawals from your bank account, employers, and retirement organizations. They will also need the passwords for any data you have encrypted, such as Quicken files or password storage programs. Finally, they will need your social security number, birth certificate, and life and health insurance policy information. You should have a paper copy of this information and tell your family where it is. What do you do if a relative dies and you must obtain access to their PC and allow their family to carry on with their financial duties? If there is a BIOS password on a desktop PC, you must open the system unit. Most motherboards have a connector into which you can insert a jumper to restore the BIOS factory defaults and remove any passwords. Laptops have similar provisions, but you will have to contact the manufacturer to find what it is. Once the BIOS password is removed you can boot the machine, at which point you may find it has a Windows password. The safest procedure is to obtain a Linux "live CD-ROM", such as Knoppix. With this you can boot Linux directly from the CD-ROM, which will let you read and copy, but not necessarily write, Windows files. Once you have copied all the critical files from the PC, you can reset the Windows password using one of the password-cracking programs that are available on the Internet. IMPORTANT EXCEPTION-Windows 2000 and XP Pro allows files and folders to be encrypted. If this has been done, resetting the Windows password will render these permanently unreadable. Fortunately, few users use this feature. There are also PDA password cracking programs, but those I've found work only on the PC desktop program that backs up the PDA; I've not seen one for the PDA itself. If there are encrypted Quicken files, Intuit promises to remove the passwords for $10 per file; see their Web site for more information. If you are more adventuresome, Quicken password-cracking programs available on the Internet. If the relative uses on-line banking, contact the bank to obtain a new password and change the ownership of the account. Monitor the account carefully for automatic transfers, both deposits and withdrawals. You probably want to stop these. Also contact all credit- and debit-card vendors to close the accounts, and notify employers and, if appropriate, Social Security of the change. Open and read carefully all letters; some bills and checks appear to be junk mail. Finally, be alert for scams; for instance, you might receive unordered merchandise or claims of debts. Having to deal with these issues is especially difficult in times of stress, and preparing the information before they arise is a much better approach. This article has been provided to APCUG by the author solely for publication by APCUG member groups. All other uses require the permission of the author (see e-mail address above). May General Forum Meeting We will meet at the Fort Collins Senior Center on Tuesday, May 1st 7:00 PM Meeting Agenda: 7:00 to 7:15 Announcements 7:15 to 8:00 Open Forum 8:00 to 8:15 Break 8:15 to 9:00 The USB Interface and Portable Computing With The U3 Flash Drive June General Forum Meeting We will meet at the Fort Collins Senior Center on Tuesday, June 5th 7:00 PM Meeting Agenda: 7:00 to 7:15 Announcements 7:15 to 8:00 Open Forum 8:00 to 8:15 Break 8:15 to 9:00 What's New in Sophisticated Computer Games + LIVE DEMO See you at the meetings! Get full membership benefits. If you are not a current member, download an application from http://www.frpcug.org/memberap.htm Future General Forum Meeting Notes Attend the May General Forum meeting to get the serious facts on a new flash memory based product. The topic is: The USB Interface and Portable Computing With The U3 Flash Drive. The presentation will be provided by FRPCUG member Rick Mattingly. The June General Forum meeting includes a LIVE DEMO! The Topic is "What's New in Sophisticated Computer Games," presented by special guest speaker Erin Varao. There is a theory that computer games are the technology driver for high speed graphics. Whether you subscribe to this theory or not, come and enjoy the fun! Future SIG's, Seminars, and Other Meetings New Technology SIG The New Technology SIG provides advance support for all PC related operating system and telecommunication issues. The meetings are held at 7:00 PM on the third Thursday of each month at Bluebird Manufacturing Inc., 1421 Webster Avenue, in Fort Collins. For more information, contact Chuck McJilton at 970-493-2987. Board Meeting FRPCUG's executive board meets on Wednesday of the week following the General Forum meeting. All members are welcome and are encouraged to attend. These meetings are held at 7:00 PM in the Staff Board Room of the Fort Collins Senior Center. Shop Talk One-on-one assistance. Drop in to the Senior Center lobby on any Saturday (holidays excepted) from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM 1 FRPCUG General Forum Meeting 7:00 PM 5 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM 9 FRPCUG Board Meeting 7:00 PM 12 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM 17 New Technology SIG Meeting 7:00 PM 19 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM 26 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM 28 HOLIDAY-Memorial Day June 2007 2 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM 5 FRPCUG General Forum Meeting 7:00 PM 9 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM 13 FRPCUG Board Meeting 7:00 PM 16 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM 21 New Technology SIG Meeting 7:00 PM 23 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM 30 Shop Talk 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM  by Yomar Cleary, Big Bear Computer Club, http://www.bigbearcc.org/newsletters/march07.pdf Using conditional formatting in Excel. Excel's conditional formatting feature (available in Excel 97 or later) offers an easy way to apply special formatting to cells if a particular condition is met. This feature is even more useful when you understand how to use a formula in your conditional formatting specification.  The worksheet at right shows student grades on two tests. Conditional formatting highlights students who scored higher on the second test. This formatting is dynamic; if you change the test scores, the formatting adjusts automatically. To apply conditional formatting, select range A2:C15 and choose Format, Conditional Formatting. The Conditional Formatting dialog box will appear with two input boxes. In the first box, choose Formulas, press Tab, and enter the following formula: =$C2>$B2 Click Format and choose a format to distinguish the cells (the example uses background shading). Click OK, and the formatting will be applied. The conditional formatting formula is evaluated for each cell in the range. The trick here is to use mixed cell references (the column references are absolute, but the row references are relative). To see how this works, activate any cell within the range and choose Format, Conditional Formatting so you can examine the conditional formatting formula for that cell. You'll find that cell A7, for example, uses this formula: =$C7>$B7. This article has been provided to APCUG by the author solely for publication by APCUG member groups. All other uses require the permission of the author (see e-mail address above). by Irving Elliott, Twin Cities PC User Group, Minnesota, www.tcpc.com/, irving.elliott(at)att.net If you scan a photo from a newspaper or magazine, then examine the results on your computer screen, you may see a criss-cross pattern of fuzzy lines over the entire print. If you print the scanned photo, you may also see such a pattern. This happens because pictures in newspapers and magazines are printed in a "halftone" mode. The halftone process was invented when it was desired to print black-gray-white photographs using a printing press that used only single-color black ink. In this process, the photo is divided into a pattern of small squares, then each square is replaced with a black "blob" of a size proportional to the average shade of black in the square. For example: a white square remains white; a light gray square becomes a small black blob; a dark gray square becomes a larger black blob; a black square remains black. The gray shades were called "half-tones", which explains the name of the process. Originally, the conversion was done by re-photographing the picture with a camera that contained a wire screen. then developing the picture in a high-contrast mode. Nowadays, the process can be accomplished on a computer.   If the density (squares per inch) of the scanned picture is not an exact multiple of the pixel density of the scanner, computer screen, or printer, an interference pattern occurs. They may also appear if the original photo is slightly rotated after scanning. Colored pictures from publications may also give you interference patterns. For these, the halftone process uses filters to split the image into more than one black-gray-white photo, with each photo representing the intensities for each color. In each resulting halftone, the blob pattern is slightly offset from that of the other halftones. The picture is reproduced by printing the same paper once for each halftone, in the corresponding color. The printing press does not print one color on top of another because of the slight offset of the halftones. You can get rid of the interference pattern by processing the picture with any photo software package that has a "blur" or "soften" selection. For example, in Paint Shop Pro, the IMAGE/SOFTEN menu selection spreads the black blobs so that the fuzzy bars magically disappear. This article has been provided to APCUG by the author solely for publication by APCUG member groups. All other uses require the permission of the author (see e-mail address above). Noncommercial Advertising k-Byte runs classified ads in Trading Post for three consecutive issues. Trading Post ads up to 10 lines (or 70 words) long are free to FRPCUG members and only $10 for non-members. To place an ad in Trading Post contact Rick Mattingly at 970-613-8968 or e-mail to rmatt(at)mesanetworks.net. Commercial Advertising Specifications (Per Issue) Full Page (8.5" x 11")*$50.00 Half Page (5.5" x 8.5")*$30.00 Quarter Page (4.25" x 5.5")*$20.00 Business Card (2" x 3.5")*$10.00 We offer a substantial discount for repeat ads and continuing contracts. For an additional charge we will design your ad for you. Contact Rick Mattingly for information on this service at 970-613-8968 or e-mail to rmatt(at)mesanetworks.net. *Allow for 0.5 inch margins   Source: http://www.mapquest.com |
| FRPCUG CONTACTS | ||||
| Telephone Area Code 970 | ||||
| FRPCUG Officers | Name | Work | Home | |
| President | Rick Mattingly | 613-8968 | rmatt(at)mesanetworks.net | |
| Vice President | Don Anderson | 498-3534 | 482-0943 | doande(at)gmail.com |
| Treasurer | Virginia Febinger | 498-2127 | gingercln(at)cs.com | |
| Secretary | Jim Bragonier | 484-9061 | james.bragonier(at)comcast.net | |
| k-Byte Staff | ||||
| Editor-in-Chief | Mike Morris | 461-2002 | twriterext(at)gmail.com | |
| Features Editor | Mike Morris | |||
| Advertising Coordinator | Open - We need a volunteer! | Contact Rick Mattingly in interim. | ||
| Other Contacts | ||||
| Membership Coordinator | Jack Linder | 663-2151 | jack(at)frpcug.org | |
| New Technology SIG | Chuck McJilton | 493-2987 | cdmcjs(at)gmail.com | |
| Door Prize Coordinator | John Goldey | 221-0877 | johngoldey(at)juno.com | |
| FRPCUG Fax Line | 493-1408 | |||
| FRPCUG Home Page w/E-Mail | http://www.frpcug.org | |||
| FRPCUG Officer E-Mail | contact(at)frpcug.org | |||
| Membership in the Front Range PC Users Group is $25 per year for individuals and $50 per year for companies. | ||||
| Mail your completed application and payment to: | ||||
| FRPCUG | ||||
| PMB 152 | ||||
| 305 W. Magnolia | ||||
| Fort Collins CO 80521 | ||||
| or join in person at the monthly meeting on the first Tuesday of each month. | ||||
